Renting vs. Purchasing

• Published in: Government Procurement Vol. 19; no. 5; p. 14
• Main Author: Burnett, Jim
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cleveland Informa 01.11.2011
• Subjects: Cost control; Decision making; Employees; Government purchasing; Purchasing contracts; Rentals; Uniforms; United States > US
• ISSN: 1078-0769; 1931-6712

Let's compare the average flat rate garment costs for renting and purchasing uniforms solely from a monetary standpoint: An estimated average flat-rate garment cost for renting five changes of standard 65/35 Poly Cotton uniform pants and shirts is about $6 per week per employee. This would be $312 per employee per year. One common add-on cost of a rental program is for new employees. There is normally a prep or setup charge to add each new employee hired during the term of the contract. This is an added cost for the laundry to pull garments out of inventory and add a laundry tape to each garment. Five changes of pants and shirts require 11 sets to be used. An average setup charge is $1 per garment. Twenty-two garments at $1 each results in a $22 setup charge per employee. Purchasing uniforms often eliminates this added cost. One of the highest ancillary expense costs when using a rental uniform contract is to pay for something called under-wash. Under-wash refers to an agency being charged fees for weekly rental and cleaning services that are not performed because employees did not turn in their uniforms to be cleaned. Many employees forget to bring their uniforms in or are sick or on vacation on pickup day. Many more employees prefer to wash their own uniforms at home for personal hygiene reasons. It is reported that the average number of employees within rental uniform programs who do not turn in their uniforms for cleaning ranges from 30 to 33 percent. This means that as much as a third of the cost of a uniform rental contract may be billed to agencies with no return for that investment.